Missing
by atlantisXgirl
Summary: Chekov is missing and it's all Sulu's fault; now he's determined to fix it. [full summary inside other additional notes]
1. Gone

**When Chekov goes missing after a fight with Sulu, Sulu wants to find him as soon as possible and make everything better, but doing it alone is impossible. Thanks to the nosy nature of the E_nterprise_ crew. **

**Rated T for some language and possible violence in the future. **

**I wish I owned Star Trek and its slew of amazing characters but, alas, I do not nor will I ever. *sob***

**I do suppose I should warn this will eventually be a Chekov/Sulu fic, with just a few hints of McCoy/Kirk.**

**Another warning. I have not beta so feel free to comment/message on any irreverent issues , grammar mistakes and things that just don't make any bloody sence. **

**That is all. Enjoy. **

As Hikaru Sulu stepped onto the bridge of the USS Enterprise his crew members knew something was wrong. To start the usually early helmsmen, who on numerous occasions was even on the bridge before beta shift was dismissed, was 30 minutes late for his alpha shift call.

"Good Morning Mr. Sulu, how nice of you to join us!" chirped a smirking James Kirk from the Captain's chair.

"Mornin'" Sulu replied, basically falling into his own seat.

Sulu's lack of normal enthusiasm perplexed the captain. Kirk took a minute to give the man a once over, dark circles played under the helmsmen's and it looked as if he had slept in his clothes (if he had slept at all)

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

Swiveling his seat around to face the captain Sulu forced a smile and replied, as casually as he could. "Yeah, everything's fine...just have you seen Pavel?" he asked gesturing towards LT Riley who was currently occupying the missing Russians post.

"He comm'd me this morning, said he was sick" Kirk replied, now feeling that something wasn't right between the two men. Sulu and Chekov were usually attached at the hip; it was sort of weird for Jim to see one and not the other.

"Hmmm" Sulu replied dryly, turning back to his station.

"Hmmm?" Kirk inquired.

"It's nothing captain" Kirk frowned. Something was up and he wanted to know what. There were numerous times when bones had warned him about "sticking your fucking nose in other people personal business, that's how you get yourself in trouble all the time dammit!" but this wasn't one of those times. Something was upsetting one of his crew members and dammit if James Tiberius Kirk was going to let it go unnoticed.

"Oh it's something" Kirk protested, trying to get the answer from Sulu.

"Well sir," Sulu began, once again turning to face the captain "me and Pavel had a bit of a fight last night" Sulu could feel the heat rising to his face but forced himself to continue. "Anyway he got mad and stormed off, and I haven't seen him since last night. I went to apologize this morning and he wasn't in his room or the mess...I...I was looking for him all morning. That's why I was late."

Kirk took a moment to let the information sink in. He wanted so badly to ask the Asian why the two were fighting in the first place but decided it was probably a bad idea. But decided against it as he thought to his time in the academy and how much he hated it when people questioned his relationship with a certain doctor, but still he needed to find out what was wrong and how long the young navigator might stay missing. The enterprise was a big ship. If someone wanted to stay hidden on it, they could for quite a while.

Sighing Kirk tapped into the comm on his chairs arm.

"Computer locate ensign Chekov"

-_No such crew member exists_- the computer replied.

"Lieutenant" Sulu managed to say, his voice barley over a whisper.

Kirk mentally kicked himself. He had forgotten that most of the alpha shift was given promotions after the Narada incident.

"Computer locate lieutenant Chekov" Kirk tried again.

-_No such crew member exists_- the computer replied once more.

"Well that's just useless" Kirk sighed hitting the arm of the chair in frustration. "How the fuck did he manage that?" he wondered aloud. Once they found the teen Kirk would have to ask him, and maybe even get the kid to teach him.

"Thank you for trying captain, I'll just look for him after my shift is done." Sulu's exasperated tone of voice made Kirk feel sort of guilty for not being able to help.

Kirk just slumped in his chair. He was confused and disappointed. Jim just hated letting people down and in some weird way he felt as if he had just let both Sulu and Chekov down at the same time. The two men had such a great relationship, or so it seemed. They seemed to eat every meal together, spend their time off together, and Jim could have sworn that Sulu had taken the younger man home to meet his parents after the Narada incident; it was probably expensive for Chekov to get home to Russia anyhow. If he didn't know any better he would have sworn the two were an item.

The day continued uneventfully, that is until a very angry southern doctor stormed into the room and stalked right over to Sulu, who was tapping away at a PADD, not wholly paying attention to the world around him.

"Where is he?" McCoy demanded grabbing sulu by the shoulder and spinning him around.

McCoy's demand was met with a look of extreme confusion from Sulu.

"Where is who, sir?" he questioned.

"That fucking Russian wizkid!"

More yelling, more confused looks.

McCoy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So I guess the kid never told you, a few days ago he got into a fight with some jackass from security and got his shoulder dislocated. Took him 2 freaking days to get his ass down to sickbay, He was supposed to come in for a checkup this morning...that kid is driving me up the fucking wall. He has the biggest aversion to sickbay I've ever seen, even worse than _you_Jim" McCoy sneered sending a glare at Kirk.

Kirk smirked and Sulu frowned. He had no idea that Chekov was hurt.

"So when was the last time you saw him?" Kirk asked, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

"A few days ago" McCoy said frowning. "Why?"

The helmsman and the captain shared an awkward glance, neither of them felt like explaining the situation at hand. The two seemed to have a silent argument before someone cut it, just in time.

"Mr. Chekov has been missing for approximately 14 hours, doctor"

The three men turned and saw Commander Spock standing nonchalantly next to the captains chair.

"Why Spock" Kirk spoke, "have you been eavesdropping." he questioned raising an amused eyebrow at the Vulcan.

"Your and Mr. Sulu's conversation was anything but discreet, had it been a bit louder the entire starship would have been informed of Mr. Chekov's disappearance" he replied dryly, adding "Captain" as what seemed like an afterthought.

McCoy glared, Kirk scowled and Sulu was beginning to resemble a tomato.

Kirk turned to face the doctor again. "Well...that's why"

"So the kids just been wandering the ship for the past 14 hours...for fun? Ya know context would be really helpful" McCoy said shooting an irritated glance at the captain and first officer.

"Him and Sulu had a fight" Jim replied, trying to fill McCoy in but still trying not to give much away (not that he knew much to give away in the first place).

"It would seem that to best locate Mr. Chekov, or at least deduce how long he would want to stay unseen, knowing what the fight was about should prove to be useful" Spock spoke with a certain tone that showed he actually had a mild interest in what was happening.

Weird

With this idea planted in their heads (and with the help plain nosey human nature) the three older (well two older and one slightly younger) men turned to Sulu once more.

Before Sulu had a chance to explain his story, Jim Kirk caught the sight of several yeoman and random engineers who seemed to be more engrossed in the events unfolding the middle of the bridge that actually doing their work.

"Gentlemen, why don't we take this somewhere with more, uh, privacy" he suggested. "I feel as if it would make it less awkward in the long run. Spock, if you don't mind, take the con. Oh, and get McKenna up here"

The Vulcan raised his eyebrows, perhaps a defense as to why he was not going to be included in the conversation, but replied with a curt nod and "Yes, captain" before walking back towards his post.

Kirk returned the nod and pulled McCoy to the turbolift with him. The pair turned to see Sulu still sitting in his chair.

"I'm...uh going to wait for McKenna"

Kirk shrugged and replied "Just meet us in bones' office after he gets here, Kay?"

"Yes captain"

**I lied, that is not all.**

**I would appreaciate any and all comments and critiques you may have. **

**I swear to finish this Fic. **

**(**just in case you haven't noticed, this is my first Star Trek fic**)**


	2. Why it all started

**Well, yeah. I do beleive it would be safe to assume all warnings and stating that I don't own anything would be useless at this point. **

**Enjoy.**

Helmsman Sulu took his time making it down to doctor McCoy's office. He didn't want to have to explain the fight he and Chekov had the day before. It was an awkward topic, not something he really wanted to talk about with anyone other than Chekov himself.

The fight had been stupid, over Chekov's upcoming birthday and what he wanted. It was a request that Sulu really should have seen coming, but it somehow still managed to catch him off guard. Pavel was a very blunt kid, that is after you got to know him a bit. Hikaru recalled the moment when Pavel decided to share his feelings for the older man. Sulu had simply walked out of his room, and there standing in front of him was the blond boy, his face was a shade of red that Sulu thought was almost impossible for a person to turn.

_"Karu" he started, carefully using a nickname form the academy "I like you".__  
><em>  
>At first, Sulu wasn't sure how to respond, he had had the same feeling towards the younger navigator for quite some time but he was never too sure how to tell the boy without seeming, well, creepy. There was an 8 year age gap after all. But the 17 year old had just come out and said it. He liked him. He was still just a kid and had managed worked up the courage to spill his feelings, something that would have taken Sulu much longer to do, right then and there (He most likely not worrying about the consequences) It seemed like hours had passed before Sulu could even put a few words together to form a decent response.<p>

"I...like... too" he had managed to spit out, still a bit dazed. But that comment seemed to be enough for the navigator, because the moment the words left Sulu's lips Chekov was beaming and smiling and going on and on about something in Russian. That was the beginning of their relationship.

Sulu smiled at the memory, still silently dreading meeting the doctor and captain. His fears were soon met as he came to halt in front of the CMOs office door. He stood for a minute thinking how to edit his account of the fight as to not spill the beans about his relationship with Chekov. And boy was he drawing a blank. Before a proper idea had time to form in his brain the doors whooshed open and Sulu caught sight of the captain walking towards him.

"There you are" he said a reassuring smile spreading across his face. "Thought you got lost, I was about to send a search party"

Sulu frowned at the reminder that Chekov was missing.

"Oh" he said walking back to McCoy. "Bad choice of words"

McCoy clapped him on the arm. "Ya think?" he scowled.

"So, uh, why don't you just sit and tell us what happened" Jim offered.

"You sound like you're talking to a 3 year old who got pushed in the sandbox" McCoy said looking oddly displeased with the captain.

Kirk elbowed the doctor in the ribs but continued to look at Sulu.

"Well..." Sulu bravely began.

_"So I know someone who's having a birthday few days" Sulu said giving the man sitting next to him a playful shove. The pair was sitting in the back corner of mess hall 3, happily eating and enjoying each others' company_

_"Oh?" Chekov questioned with a laugh._

_"Yeah, and he's turning 18...what do you think he wants for his birthday." Sulu inquired with mock confusion._

_"Vell, I zink I know zis man and I do beliewe zat a friend of hiz had promised him fencing lessons" Chekov replied using his fork as a poorly improvised fencing sword, stabbing Sulu in the arm._

_"Ow! Hey!" Sulu swatted the fork away "Are you sure that's all you want?"_

_"Da" the blond said with a smile._

_"Reeaaallllyyy?" Sulu pressed. "Because for mine, you got me an Orion cactus and somehow managed to get one of those dog...like...creature" he twisted his face trying to find the right word "things from Alpha 177...you never told me how you did that by the way"_

_Chekov giggled at Sulu's ungraceful use of the English language. "But ze cactus died and keptin Kirk ordered ze...dog...of ze ship! And zat iz just my leetle secret" he winked._

_"So are you afraid I'm going to get you something that's going to die and or be thrown from the ship?"_

_"Nyet" Chekov protested. "I just vant some zing zimple"_

_"Pav! You're going to be 18!"_

_The young man's smile faded, but only slightly. "You sound like my mozer" he replied._

_"Ha-ha" the helmsman replied, "I want to get you something special for turning 18...here look at this" Sulu pulled the ring off his right middle finger and handed it to Chekov._

_"Vhat iz zis?" he questioned twirling the small silver ring in his hands._

_"It's the ring my parents gave me when I turned 18" Sulu smiled._

_"I vould newer vant some zing like zis" he replied returning the ring to Sulu's finger._

_"Why?"_

_"I vould lose it, or break it, or some zing, besides I vant no reminder of my age" a puzzled look spread across Sulu's face and he let out a nervous laugh._

_"But Pav, you're turning 18 not 88"_

_"Karu, can ve just forget it?" Chekov's voice had become low and a look of hurt crossed his face as he started walking out of the mess. __Sulu sighed and racked his brain for something more...enjoyable to change the topic to. He snapped his fingers and ran to catch up with his boyfriend._

_"Hey! Whenever finished our movie from a few weeks ago...wanna finish it now?" he asked hoping to get Chekov into a better mood._

_"Da" he turned around slowly and flashed a quick smile, the kind that made sulus heart melt._

_The two men walked back to Sulu's room, sat down on the sofa and continued watching some crap movie from the 21st century, the graphics were horrid but the plot was a sweet, sci-fi love story. _

_Something about some 8 feet tall blue people and their tree house. _

_Chekov wasn't really paying attention, he was having a mental argument with himself, trying to figure out how to tell Sulu what he really wanted for his birthday. He didn't even realize that he had shut himself from his surroundings until he felt Sulu gently poking him in the side._

_"Vhat?" Chekov questioned looking up._

_"The movie ended 10 minutes ago, you were just kinda staring at the screen like a zombie" Sulu replied, an amused glint in his eyes._

_Chekov flicked his gaze back to the screen just in time to see the credits end and the movies main menu return to the screen._

_"Oh, I zuppoze I just vasn't paying wery much attention" the Russian shrugged._

_"Well, what's on your mind?" Sulu asked throwing a protective arm over the younger mans shoulder._

_Chekov thought for a moment and finally just decided on a direct approach._

_"Vould you ewer sleep vith me?"_

From somewhere in the office McCoy coughed and most likely shifted his weight awkwardly, but Sulu couldn't be too sure since he had buried his head deeply into his hands.

"So Chekov asked you to sleep with him?" Kirk asked. Sulu could almost hear the smile in mans' voice.

"Did ya?" Sulu had no idea how to respond to that. He slowly lifted his head and peered at the captain through spread fingers, sort of resembling a child watching a horror movie. Kirk looked pretty interested in the answer; gazing back at Sulu with high eyebrows and a crooked smile.

Of course that smile was whipped off of his face the minute after it appeared. McCoy stepped forward slapped him in the back of the head, putting some force into it. It was almost enough to make Sulu smile. Almost.

"Pervert" McCoy mumbled.

**I'm just going to apologize if the whole "memory/story" thing was a bit wonky. I wanted to tell the story leading up to the fight but not the actual fight (that's next chapter ;])**

**Oh and sorry for Chekov's accent. **

**Comments/Critiques are welcome and make me smile.**

**Hehe I wanted to add a conversation between Chekov and Sulu about how a character from the movie looked like Uhura, but i couldn't seem to fit it in properly. Oh well. (virtual cookies if you name the movie they were watching)**

**Thank you. **


	3. So that's why he's gone

**So here we are, the fight. **

**Enjoy.**

_Sulu had always found it hard to think when someone was pressuring him for answers. He found it even harder when that someone was, at this moment, staring up at him with blue puppy dog eyes. And the answer he was looking for was the one to the question "Would you ever sleep with me?" asked by 17 year old Pavel Chekov._

_There was an awkward silence between the two before Chekov decided he wanted an answer right then and there._

_"Vell?" he pressured._

_Sulu looked into Chekov's eyes and wondered if anyone else on the Enterprise had ever been face to face with the most beautiful eyes they had ever seen, (With the possible exception of Leonard McCoy, who had probably on numerous occasions, starred into the ridiculously blue eyes of James T. Kirk)_

_"I...well...I...should we...I mean...we've..." he suddenly realized he was mumbling. A solid thought would be very good at this point. "Now?" he sheepishly questioned._

_Chekov giggled. He actually let out a stereotypical school-girl giggle. It was adorable._

_"Vell, I vas sort of hoping for now" He replied, leaning in to plant a sweet little kiss on Sulu's lips._

_Normally Sulu would have been happy to receive a kiss from the boy, but he just couldn't at that moment. Instead of simply leaning back (out of Chekov's reach) he jumped up from the sofa and was half way across the room before Chekov even knew it._

_"Did I do some zing vong?" Chekov asked, hurt lingering over his face._

_"No!" Sulu replied walking back towards the Russian and taking a seat on the arm of the sofa. "It's just...no not right now. Okay?"_

_"Ven I turn 18?" he asked hopefully,_

_Sulu rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "No, well maybe, I don't know. It's just that you're too young..." he trailed off not sure if the sentence would help his reasoning._

_"But I vill be 18! It von't be illegal anymore!"_

_"I know! But it's just that...I feel like I would break you or...ruin it somehow..."_

_Chekov scrunched his face up, something that made him look even younger than he was. "But ozer people alvays seem to jump into bed vith each other and zey still manage normal relationships!"_

_"Yeah but we don't exactly have a normal relationship." Sulu wanted so desperately to get Chekov to understand. He didn't want to mess things up because they slept together too early. "Can we please just wait until you're just a little bit older?"_

_"Vhy?"_

_"It would make me feel better about it!" Sulu said standing once more. He turned so he would be able to look Chekov right in the eyes. Chekov obviously didn't want to look at him though because the minute their eyes met he turned and faced the opposite direction. It had suddenly hit Sulu how much Chekov was acting like a real teenager at that point. He wanted something, Sulu said no and now Chekov was pouting about it. In some ways it was good to see there was still a kid in him, but in other ways it was sort of heartbreaking._

_"Does it ewen matter how dis iz making me feel?"_

_"Sometimes not everything can just be given to you. Relationships are two sided. You need to have compromises. Just because you want something doesn't mean the other person does too" Sulu was beginning to feel like this conversation (well, more of an argument at this point) wasn't going to end well for either of them._

_Chekov was the one standing now. He had moved off the couch and was now directly in front of Sulu. There was a sizable gap in ages between the two but there wasn't a height gap. Chekov was only an inch or two shorter than Sulu, meaning that there was nowhere for Sulu to avert his gaze too, without the boy noticing. They were standing there for a few moments until Chekov finally spoke._

_"You do not vant to be in a relationship vith me?" he asked in almost a whisper._

_Sulu threw his head back and groaned. It was the worst possible question to ask at this point. He ran his hands through his hair, attempting not to pull it out at the roots. Squeezing his eyes shut he responded._

_"Of course I want to be in a relationship with you! I just don't want to sleep with you!"_

_The second the words left his lips he could feel his breath hitch in his lungs. Everything seemed to stop around him. His eyes flew opens and he whipped his head down; desperately trying to find some way to take the words back. But Sulu knew what he said had already been heard and processed by the boy standing in front of him. A slew of emotions crossed over Chekov's face, but only for a moment. Hurt. Confusion. Helplessness. Sadness. And even guilt. But they were all gone in a flash, replaced by a stern expression, one of a person who was trying so desperately not to cry._

_"Fine" he stated as he spun on his heels towards the door._

_"No Pav wait! That came out wrong!" Sulu called after the boy, hopping over a table to get to him. The kid was a fast walker when he was upset (and damn was he upset) Sulu grabbed Chekov's wrist and attempted to get him to stop, but with force he had never seen the younger man use, Chekov ripped his hand from Sulu's grip and darted out the door; leaving Sulu standing in the door way feeling as if his entire world had just been crumpled into a ball and thrown in a fire._

Sulu couldn't bring himself to look at McCoy or Kirk. He just sat there with his head in his hands, wishing he was anywhere else but in McCoy's office.

Anywhere. He would even settle for being back in the academy taking his astrophysics final.

But Sulu knew he couldn't keep his head in his hands forever. Bravely he lifted his head and sent a wary glance at the two men sitting in front of him. Both of them were wearing similar expressions of shock. It was pretty apparent that they both weren't expecting it would have been _that _type of fight.

"I really need to find him" Sulu finaly spoke.

"Yeah! Ya do!" Kirk said, only shortly before he realized it was absolutely no time to joke around. "Um..." he started again "Well, do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"Do you think if he knew where the kid was that we'd be having this little chat?" McCoy stepped into the conversation. Something was obviously bugging him, and a ticked off doctor McCoy wasn't really the type of McCoy you wanted to deal with. Kirk knew that and took a more serious tone for his next question.

"How long do you think he would want to stay missing?"

Sulu opened his mouth to reply but McCoy cut him off.

"He's a teenager Jim. That means he's stubborn and thick head. He's not gunna come walking into the mess for dinner any time soon" he scowled.

Sulu hated that thought. He knew it was true but he didn't want it to be. He was the one that had upset Chekov so much and he would give up anything to erase the past and make everything better again.

Jim Kirk rose out of his chair, pretty much hell bent on finding that kid at this point. "I'm going to alert security, and tell them to start looking for him."

"Sir, I…" Sulu protested.

Jim turned and faced the man. "Don't worry, I'm just going to tell them he's...misplaced himself within the inner workings of the ship" he smirked at his play on words and started towards the door.

Sulu didn't reply but sunk into his chair with his arms folded across his chest and shut his eyes once more. He heard footsteps and the distinctive whoosh of the door as it opened and closed.

"Good fucking job you idiot" he mumbled to himself. "Now you're a jackass and responsible for Pavel while he's 'misplaced himself within the inner workings of the ship'" he mimicked. A poor attempt to make himself feel better. "God dammit!"

"I'm pretty sure that's my line" a voice spoke from across the table. So Sulu wasn't as alone as he thought he was. _Brilliant._

Sulu opened his eyes only to see a very smug looking McCoy leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on the table. "You know you should really think before you speak...it'll probably save your ass in the future"

"Yeah...I know" Sulu replied halfheartedly.

McCoy stood up and strode over to Sulu, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know fights can make relationships stronger"

"Yeah sure, one in a million fights helps a relationship. The rest end them" he said not looking McCoy in the eyes, something he had said made the doctor laugh.

"Trust me, I know all about relationship ending fights...somehow I doubt this will be one"

"But I just told Pavel I had absolutely no desire to sleep with him, I probably broke his teenage heart"

McCoy stopped himself from asking if it was true or not. "But you also brought the teenage part of him to surface, it was probably good thing. Besides, he'll probably get over it in a couple days and you two can talk it over again once we find him. And if I know Jim, which I do, he's gunna find the kid"

Sulu looked up, McCoy was acting...fatherly. It was, well as Spock would put it, fascinating. "You think so? That we'll be able to talk it over, I mean"

McCoy smirked again. "Yeah I think so, now go back to your room and get some rest. You look like you need it"

"But I haven't finished my shift yet!"

"You look exhausted, emotionally and physically. You need sleep or you're not going to be very useful. Doctor's orders. I'll tell Kirk to get McKenna to cover your shift." McCoy said sending a stern look at the man.

"Thank you" Sulu said standing up.

"You're welcome now get out of my office and go to bed" now he really sounded like a father. McCoy's order actually made Sulu smile a little as he walked out of the CMOs office.

Sulu knew he wasn't going to be getting much sleep while Chekov was missing but he had to at least try. With the doctor's words still ringing in his ears, he started the walk back to his room; wishing he had someone to walk with.

**I want to say sorry. I feel as if i might have made it seem like a life or death kind of fight in previous chapters, which it totally isn't. Hopefully I didn't dissapont too many people with this. **

**I'm not all too happy with the way I ended this chapter. The office part I mean. It was so I didn't go into a side story that involved Kirk and McCoy (i really wanted too but it would have taken longer to tell the actual story) Oh well. Maybe some other story some other time. **

**Comments/Critiques are very very much appreciated. They make me smile. **

**Thanks for reading. =]**


	4. Maybe he's in there

**Sorry this has taken so long. I've been on a camping trip and camping = woods = no internet. **

**Well I hope you it was worth the wait...if not I'm sorry.**

**Enjoy.**

By the time Hikaru Sulu reached his room, he was tired both emotionally and physically. All he really wanted to do was fall asleep in the arms of his boyfriend; but that wasn't exactly going to happen at the moment.

He opened his door and found that everything was exactly the same from when he and Chekov had fought. The sofa cushions were slightly askew, the remote was nowhere to be found (much like Chekov himself) and the movies main menu was still on a loop on the television screen.

Sighing, Sulu turned the TV off and stalked towards the bathroom. He flipped on the shower and immediately shut it back off, he knew there was no reason to go through his nightly routine when he wasn't going to report to his shift the next morning, hopefully Kirk would understand. He changed out of his uniform (now two days old) and pulled on a pair of regulation sweatpants that were in a pile in the corner. He shut the bathroom light off and headed for his bed.

Sulu was tired but there was no way in hell he was going to be getting any sleep.

**X X X**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the USS Enterprise a very stressed out and mildly pissed off James Kirk was trying to understand how a 17 year old boy was able to outsmart the entire security crew (not to mention he hadn't been caught on any of the security cameras). Jim was currently having a very heated argument with an old friend of his; a man who he had drunkenly called 'cupcake' and for the life of him, he couldn't remember the much larger mans real name.

"What do you mean 'he just ain't here'" Kirk said, resisting the urge to bang his head against a wall.

"I'm telling you he's not on this ship! No security videos! No sightings! No anything! It's like he's invisible or something!" the man replied, become more and more angry with the younger captain. "He. Just. Ain't. Here"

"You guys sure managed to find my ass pretty damn fast! You know what? I'll find him myself!" Kirk yelled stalking towards the turbo lift. He'd find Chekov if it was the last thing he ever did.

To help find the lost kid, Kirk had found, and required, pretty much all of his friends from the alpha shift (with the exception of the helmsman). Uhura was the first to join Kirk in his search. She had run into the captain while he was searching all the mess halls, she hadn't been able to sleep and decided that a midnight snack would probably help; imagine her surprise to see Jim walk in and make an announcement that Chekov had gone missing. Being the kind type of person she was, Nyota was the first to volunteer to help find the boy.

The next dragged into the search party was Doctor McCoy. Kirk caught him just as he was walking out of sickbay. "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor not a bloodhound" was the CMOs only response to the Captain.

After the trio had searched all of the places they could think Chekov might be, they headed down to the engineering deck to get even more help from a certain Scotsman. Scotty was more than happy to help find Chekov. There were many times when the boy had come down in the middle of the night seeking company or advice and ended up staying the entire night helping to repair things.

Spock was the last addition to the search party. Nyota was the one to wake him up, claiming she had run out of 'logical' ideas and needed some more. Spock was also the biggest help to the mission, suggesting areas of the ship the previous group hadn't even thought about searching.

5 hours later they were all dead tired and there was still no sign of the young lieutenant.

"You're all dismissed, get some rest. Thanks for helping" Kirk managed to say, he was beginning to wonder how he was still able to walk. They had searched the entire ship and still no Chekov. The group had finally landed themselves in mess hall 5 trying to decide what their next course of action would be.

"But Jim!.." Uhura protested, she was the most awake out of the entire group (minus, perhaps, Spock), if you were going by looks.

Scotty was leaning against a wall 'resting his eyes', McCoy had just given up and was now snoring rather loudly, passed out and a table, and Spock was actually leaning slightly over said table, very much against his normal perfect posture. Uhura on the other hand was standing right in from of Kirk with a very worried look on her face (If it wasn't for the pajamas she was sporting, it would have looked like she was ready to be part of a landing party)

"We have to find him!" she finished.

Kirk placed a hand on her shoulder "He'll show up eventually. I promise. Now get some sleep. That's an order."

After sending one last pleading glance at the captain, she turned around and headed towards the group of exhausted men. Spock was the first to stand, joining her in waking the engineer and the doctor up, neither of them very happy their sleep was interrupted. Kirk watched them walk out the mess hall and as soon as the doors shut behind them, he slipped down the wall and started racking his brain for places they might have missed.

That's when it hit him. The third level observation room had been closed for repairs and only a few people knew the authorization code. Chekov could have gotten the code and gone there.

Leaping to his feet Jim Kirk began running towards the turbo lift, praying he was right.

**X X X**

As the turbo lift doors whooshed open, Kirk stepped out and immediately made his way to the observation room's doors. He tapped in his code and was utterly shocked when nothing happened.

-_Proper authorization needed_- the computer chirped.

"Proper authorization?" Kirk repeated. "What the fuck? I'm the captain!" he hissed, typing in his code again.

-_Proper authorization needed_- the computer chirped once more.

"Son of a bitch!" Kirk took a step to right and pulled open the panel covering the doors control mechanism. He began pulling every which wire and fiddling with everything, hoping to get the door to open. He really wasn't too sure why he was going through the trouble to manually open the door, but he sure hoped it was worth it.

A good 10 minutes passed before the doors hissed open to reveal complete blackness. Kirk stepped into the room, the door shutting behind him, and started groping the wall for the manual switch. A faint clink from the darkness of the room made him freeze, his fingers looming over the switch; there was someone else in the room after all. As he flicked the switch and light flooded the room and out of the corner of his eye he saw a clumsy figure scramble to its feet.

Kirk spun to get a better view of the figure, only to come face-to-face with the missing Russian; who was now trying to smooth out his very wrinkled and messed up uniform.

"Keptin" the boy managed to slur out. Kirk looked around the room and saw an empty vodka bottle tucked into one of Chekov's boots (which were haphazardly strewn across the ground) or at least Kirk assumed it was vodka, that's all the kid really drank. As soon as Chekov had managed to make his uniform look half way decent, the young man lost his balance and fell back on his ass; he landed with a huff and sigh. Kirk just cocked an eyebrow and let out a very un-captainly laugh (he was the captain, he wasn't supposed to laugh at a troubled member of his crew).

"Vhat are vou doing here sir?" Chekov questioned as he rubbed his probably pounding head.

"What am _I_ doing here? What the _hell_ are you doing here? Don't you know that half of the fucking ship is trying to find _you_!" Kirk heard the rise of tone in his voice and knew it probably wasn't the best approach to the situation. He joined Chekov on the floor and sent a, hopefully, comforting glance at him.

"You were lost and that upset a lot of people, we're all just worried about you, Pavel" that was the first time Kirk had called the lieutenant by his first name, this caught Chekov's attention and Jim could have sworn he saw the younger man blush.

"Maybe I did not vant to be found" he replied, still not looking directly at the captain.

Kirk smirked and gave Chekov a gentle shove with his shoulder. "Now that just you being stubborn, isn't it?"

The Russian huffed. "I hawf ewery right to be stubborn" the boy was now glaring at the wall opposite of him, if looks could do damage, that wall would have a giant molten hole in it.

"Yeah guess you do. Look Pavel, we have some things we need to talk about..." Kirk said attempting to meet the younger man's gaze.

Jim Kirk wanted Chekov's view on the fight. It would bring more of an understanding to the entire situation, and maybe it would help change the kids mind about what he _really_wanted.

Pavel Chekov whipped his head towards Kirk so fast he actually got dizzy. The look of hatred had vanished and was replaced by a look of horror.

"Hikaru did not do any zing to me! I swear!" Chekov almost shouted. "Don't court-martial him! It iz all my fault!"

**So I know this is a pretty short chapter but I wanted it to end on that line, if it didnt it would have been a really _really_ short chapter 5.**

**I hope you guys like the update! **

**Comments/critiques make my day. Literally. =] **


	5. Reunited

**I'm saving all my comments for the end becasue there's a lot of them. But I will say: Here's the last chapter. **

**Enjoy.**

James Tiberius Kirk was, at this moment, at a complete loss of words. A few seconds ago the kid probably wouldn't have been able to spell his own name let alone hold his own in a fight and now he had almost pounced on his captain (probably bent on giving the man a black eye if he heard what he feared). Granted, that wasn't the first time Kirk has been almost tackled by anyone and it probably wouldn't be the last; but that wasn't exactly relevant at the moment.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa!" Kirk said, putting his hands up in defense. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

Chekov gave Kirk a look that was a mix between relief and doubt.

"Heeeeeey!" Kirk griped. "Sulu is this ship's best helmsman, there is now way I would do that to him...unless..." Kirk paused to think about what would actually cause him to court martial one of his friends "…he killed someone or something like that" he finished with a smirk.

Chekov sighed and sat back down "Sulu vould newer do something like zat, he is too kind"

"That's my point" Kirk replied.

There was an extremely awkward silence between the two before Chekov finally spoke up again.

"So...Sulu told you every zing about our fight then, da?"

"Well..." Kirk started juggling the idea of lying or telling the truth. "Yeah" he replied settling on the truth. (Well, mostly the truth. He decided against mentioning that McCoy had been there for the conversation too)

"Zen you must zink I am ze the most idiotic person on zis ship" Chekov sighed turning a wary eye towards the Capitan.

Kirk sat and thought for a moment, he couldn't seem to formulate an answer that wouldn't make the situation any worse. If he said yes, then that was bound to put the kid in a very uncomfortable position (as if it wasn't already uncomfortable) but if he said no, Chekov was bound to go on a tangent to why he was, thus rendering the captains opinion moot.

Chekov took the long silence as the captain's answer; he quickly stood and started making his way towards the door, leaving Kirk on the floor listening to the young man's heavy steps.

Jim leapt to his feet and ran after the kid, scared as what he would do when he left the room. "Just where do you think you're going kid?" Kirk asked.

"Going to fill out my resignation forms keptian" Chekov replied still walking towards the door, Kirk could hear the tremble and regret in his voice.

"Pavel if you walk out that door you won't have to fill out any forms, I'll have you dropped on the nearest federation planet and you'll be the one court marshaled" Kirk knew that being stern and cold was the only way to get to the kid.

"Think about how many people that will hurt" he added with a much softer tone.

Chekov stood with his hand hovering over the door switch, trying to figure out if his captain was being serious or not. He dropped his hand back to his side and turned slightly to look at the other man.

"I am being 100% serious. Now get back over here, I'm not finished talking with you lieutenant" It was Jim's time to act like a father.

Pavel slowly made his way back to a table and sat down, not giving Kirk a second glance. Jim sat down across from him and began to speak, praying he would be able to keep an even tone with the boy.

"I just have one question for you: what on earth would make you think that resigning would solve with problem?"

Chekov sighed. "I zuppoze zat if I vasn't part of zis crew anymore zen Karu vould not have to deal vith me anymore"

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard"

"Pardon?" Chekov replied not looking Kirk in the eye.

"You would give up a career and the opportunity of a lifetime to make sure you wouldn't have to deal with one person?" Kirk questioned.

"Nyet, sir. So he couldn't hawf to deal vith me" the young man corrected.

"What makes you think that he wouldn't want to deal with you?"

"I vould not vant to deal vith me if I vas him...I acted so immature and selfish...I just vould not be able to over look that…in ze future"

"He doesn't think like that" Kirk tried, attempting to catch the boys gaze.

"And hov vould you know zat?" Kirk could hear a hint of anger in the kid's voice and just decide to ignore it.

"Because" he pressed on "I do okay? I know a thing or two about being in a relationship with an age gap."

"I am just zo frustrated, I do not vant to be ze one zat Karu haz to look after all ze time...but I am not a child any more...I just…" Any sign of anger was now replaced by complete sadness in Chekov's voice; it looked as if he might have been crying if his captain hadn't been sitting directly across from him.

Kirk cut the navigator off, "I get it. Trust me I really do. As doctor McCoy would say 'you're preaching to the choir' but no matter how old you get or how long your relationship goes on, he will always be looking out for you. There is nothing you can do about it...honestly the best thing for you to do now is to apologize to Sulu and work everything out. Okay?"

"But vhat if he doesn't vant anyzign to do vith me now? Or vhat If he doesn't vant to vork zings out?"

"Do you think he would have spent almost two days looking for you if he didn't want to work things out?"

When there was no response form Chekov, Kirk stood and walked over to him. Placing a hand on the young lieutenant's shoulder he smiled down at the kid. And the kid smiled back.

"I'm going to go tell Dr. McCoy that I've found you and you're on your way to talk to Sulu. Okay?"

"okay" Chekov replied standing, and beginning to pull his boots back on, but stopped as Kirk opened the door. "Keptin" he started.

"Yes Chekov?"

"Zank you for every zing"

"You're welcome Pavel, now get going. If I have to come back down here for you, there will be hell to pay" he replied before leaving the room, listening to the boy chuckle behind him.

Kirk stepped into the turbo-lift with a smile. He knew everything was going to be just fine between the helmsman and navigator.

**XXX**

Hikaru Sulu was woken up buy the obnoxious sound of his alarm. The alarm he wasn't really supposed to set but did anyway. He reluctantly pulled himself out of bed and got dressed, not all too ready to brave the day.

As he neared his door he heard the usual humming of people in the halls, but something about it this morning was off, the people were far too loud and they weren't just walking by his room. The sound suggested they were stopped in front of and around his door in the hallway.

Deciding he just didn't care anymore Sulu sighed and opened the door, only to be tackled to the ground by a mystery person.

Sulu wasn't able to get a good look at the person, so his basic "get this damn person off on me" instincts kicked in. He had pulled the person off of him and into a standing position before he realized who it was.

Standing across from Sulu at and arms length was the man's now not so lost boyfriend, on the verge of tears.

Chekov didn't wait a second longer before pulling Sulu into a big hug and mumbling apologies into his shoulder over and over again.

"I am so sorry Karu...please, please forgive me"

"Pavel?" Sulu questioned, secretly hoping that his mind wasn't just playing tricks on him.

Chekov reluctantly pushed himself away from his boyfriend. "I am so sorry...so wery wery sorry. Everything is entirely my fault. I newer should haw been zo selfish and irrational and immature. Please...please forgive me"

Sulu pulled the boy back into his arms and replied "I should be the one apologizing, I take back everything I said before. I hope you know I didn't mean any of it. I'm so sorry Pavel."

Chekov sniffed but didn't pull away from the navigator. "I know...I just...I am sorry"

Neither of the men broke from the embrace, they were both so preoccupied with the fact that they were back together they failed to notice the crowd that was originally outside Sulu's room had doubled in size. The crowd now included the smirking faces of Uhura, Scotty, Jim, and Bones. It wasn't until Jim ordered everyone back to work, did either man bother to look up at their surroundings.

By the time the two actually let each other go, Jim was the only one left in the hallway with them.

Sulu was the first to acknowledge the captains presence, sending a grateful smile towards the man. "Thank you, I wish there was more I could do to show how grateful I am"

Kirk laughed "How about you two actually showing up for your shifts on time tomorrow?"

Sulu and Chekov both returned the captains smile "We can do zat" Chekov chimed.

"Good, now if you don't mind...I've had a busy couple of nights so I'm going to go get some rest...and I suggest you two do the same"

"Of course captain" The two men replied in unison.

After a nod at the two, James Tiberius Kirk began walking down the hall towards the turbo lift. However a noise from behind him made him stop in his tracks. It was a few words, then a swoosh of a door being shut.

The few words that Kirk managed to hear made him grin like an idiot all the way back to his room.

"Happy Birthday Pavel, I love you"

* * *

><p><strong>AND that's how it ends. I hope you all enjoyed. =]<strong>

**Holy Crap. I cannot believe that its taken me over 7 months to finish this story. **

**I'm SO sorry!**

**I do hope I didn't make it too sappy. I feel like I did, and for that I apologize. I must say that I am moderatly happy with how this ended. **

**Thank you for reading and as always: comments and critiques are welcomed. Seriously they make me smile a whole bunch. **


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